Ashfall: City of Shade (UNDER EDITING)

Chapter 54 | Boundary

BROMMY

"Where is Greta?" I ask finding Adler sleeping peacefully in the hospice.

Ren sits beside him.

"She went to the palace court," Ren explains. "I think she was excited to see the council, and now, he is sick. She is responsible. I'll prove it."

"No. This feigned 'illness' of his is temporary. Greta was not supposed to be at the palace. Did you order her to your court-"

"Yes, there are only two fonas in this entire empire able to contact intergalactic forces. Yours and his. Now, I know it wasn't Adler's."

She couldn't be more wrong. He is the best liar, and most women, including her, unfortunately, believe him.

Behind her back, Adler sits upright with a smirk.

All signs of his fake illness gone.

"Brommy, don't worry. I will go with my little pearl. We will be back real soon. She is not at the palace anymore. She is sleeping on the other side of this wall."

"My dear!" Ren gasps, "Have you regained your health?"

"I'm glad you are done pretending to be sick, Adler. Are you ready to join us now, at the palace?"

"What?" he asks coyly. Ren hugs his side. Adler looks over her head at me. "Would you rather go in my place?"

"If I were to, who would you have me take?"

"You know who," Ren answers in a sultry tone while petting his arm, "The slow one. The weird one. The one who is responsible, in the first place, for destroying your home star and peace-"

"What would you know about Ashtium?" Adler interrupts, "You don't know what it means to live through war. You have known peace your entire, protected, life-"

"Enough bickering. I will fetch her-"

"Well, I already gave you that chance, didn't I, Brommy? This time, I will just do it myself. I would never make my little pearl scared enough to burst. I'd sooner have her shrunken! Ahaha!" Adler admits through a dark chuckle, "...so her little dwarfed mind cannot process what is happening. Maybe I should just do it again-"

"You have done enough of that already," I remind him, "Small or big, Greta is not so easily controlled. That is the concern. If the council discovers her capabilities have matured, beyond their knowledge, all three of us will be experimented on instead of just you."

"Experimented on?" Ren whispers.

"What?" Adler asks Ren sharply through a wicked grin. His cruel smile feeds off of her growing horror. "Don't be afraid. These are special guests Enoch welcomed into our city, after all. It's not like they have come to steal, or destroy, our means of defending ourselves. It's not as though this is about controlling our resources, so we don't surpass their authority-"

"Yes, we know-" I try to divert the subject.

"You want me to hide until Enoch finishes chatting up the ones who have arrived to slaughter his people, and compensate them for destroying our defenses along with, you know, our personal freedoms. Speaking of personal, I, personally, rather not hear anymore bitching from Enoch or you, Brometheous. I know what you want. The light is staying 'on'," Adler sighs while laying back down, "Unless you rather turn it off yourself, or even better, my little pearl. Oh, yes! I have the perfect plan. I thought of it just now."

"Did you really?" Ren asks while twirling her hair.

She doesn't belong in this discussion. He should have dismissed her the moment I showed up.

"He did not think of it just now, Ren. Our nation does not stop at one star or planet's fall. Converting our nation to the shadow of the sun has been his plan, our plan, from the very beginning-"

"W-what is he talking about, Adler?" Ren asks in a waver. Her voice hardens as she picks up on his silence. His absent empathy. "I am not your race! The civilians are not your race! How are they to see in this mass of darkness you are fantasizing?"

"Of course, everyone will be able to see in this, temporary, darkness," Adler soothes, "We have other natural means of light. Not to mention, I want to explore the seas of this planet-"

"For what?" I ask impatiently.

"Beneath the sand, there is special gas. I will need light to lead my campaign down into the caverns to investigate. That is the main reason those slick-skinned politicians are here. They want me to take them down there because this planet's wealth hasn't been sucked dry yet. They're here to collect-"

"Let's not jump that far ahead, Adler. The pillage from our empire's domain alone should be satisfactory. A shame to lose such items that belong in museums or preserved for our own history, but it's a small price to pay for wiping other planets off the face of the galaxy. That, and, the mass of oil sitting beneath our feet right now surpasses the wealth of our nation currently-"

"Yes, enough of that, Brommy. The plan will not deviate from what Enoch and you insisted on. I am the keeper of time here. Nobody, not a soul in this empire, will ever question whose time those invaders are on when I finally get to have my way."

"Enough rambling, Adler. I must go," I announce, "I have my own life apart from this. If you want the truth alone, next time, don't invite others into the space it's shared. I do not have the patience to humor this anymore!"

***

ADLER

In the night, I find my little pearl sound asleep - exactly where the old women told me. She is living in the hospice. Right beside my room.

Greta's spyrt is dim letting me know her soul is not present right now.

Where do her dreams take her?

"Little pearl, I am here. Please, wake up."

Her eyes remain shut. Tiny whisps of pale hair stand in all directions on top of the crown of her head. Her tunic is still tied properly around her body.

Maybe she is not asleep. The only other reason her spyrt would be dim though is if she were were dead.

A new plan forms in my mind as I return to my meager chamber in the stuffy hospice.

With a sigh, I collapse onto the tiny bed when my fona begins ringing, jumping up and down in place by my bedside.

Baloop, baloop!

I pick up the noisy seashell-shaped device listening to its ring. It's not often I receive an incoming call from Greta.

She must have been awake, after all.

"My sweet? Is it you?"

"Adler, did you come into my chamber?"

"Yes."

"Please, do not enter my room when I am sleeping again. I am not comfortable talking to you on the fona-"

My temper teeters back and forth on the edge of her unwavering hatred of me.

"What? You are mad at me again, little pearl? Still? Nothing makes you happy, lately. Nothing is good enough for you when I have given you everything...the best I could. I gave you my very best. I did you no wrong. This is exhausting and not worth the bother. You are so fucking annoying-"

Baloop!

The fona rings once, the noise short and cut-off. Then, it becomes still and silent in my hand.

"My sweet?"

No response.

☁️